Afghanistan

While environmental concerns and sustainable development are on the top agenda of the international community, including many developing countries, the war country of Afghanistan is facing a devastating environmental crisis, drought.

We know little about the original ecosystems of Afghanistan. Until now, no environmental study has been carried out here to reveal the true extent of the crisis and to propose a solution. The lack of information on the quality of air, water, vegetation, farmland and other environmental factors could be attributed to the lack of relevant organisations or agencies in the country. Work done by international agencies is scant, and rarely addresses most of these issues. In this context, this paper can be considered a reconnaissance of a problem that has not yet been addressed and requires responsible research on environmental issues in Central Asia, and in Afghanistan in particular.

Though Afghanistan have several river like Helmand, Undokosh road , Hari road. But all its water goes to neighboring countries Pakistan and Iran river, because Afghanistan does not have a system to stop the water from going to that direction. Today’s mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands and pastures are the backbone of the ecosystems and economy of the country.

However, the situation has changed, and these changes occurred during the recent war, revealing them in an explosive manner and in a very short time. It is true that the general public blame the war for deterioration in the health of people and animals, poor productivity of farmland and other resources, and finally the collapse of social and economic structures in the country.

People also are not taking part in any social changes of ecosystem since they are wating for the interntiaonal organization or for the donor work on it. Even they do not dig a well because they feel it is not their job donor can do this for them.

Afghanistan is a country with full mountain and covers with the big mountain and one of them is The Hindu Kush mountainous area, with little or no vegetation, typical of an arid region, occupies two thirds of the landscape of Afghanistan. Except for the Solaiman ranges to the south and southeast of the country that support dense vegetation due to intermittent precipitation from the Indian subcontinent’s annual monsoons, the rest of the Hindu Kush, especially the north and northwestern extensions, support either sporadic vegetation of trees and shrubs or are bare, rocky mountains and hills with very sparse or no vegetation. It should be remembered that, in most of these valleys, the vegetation at low and medium altitudes provides the livelihood of the inhabitants, and in some cases is the only resource for the continuation of life. The vegetation plays a vital role in the overall health of society and its coexistence with other components of the ecosystem. For example, if we consider the role of pistachio (Pistacia vera), among hundreds of other plants that grow in the north and northwestern Hindu Kush, we find that it not only provides climatic and environmental stabilisation, but eases the life of thousands of families by providing them with a natural source of income to sustain their livelihoods. Until the beginning of the war in 1978, wild pistachio nut was one of the major exports of the Afghan economy, covering 4700 ha, with production of 3800 tons, but it is now reduced to a harvest area of 2700 ha, with production of 1600 ton in 1999 (FAOSTAT, 2000)”.

One sixth of the remaining landscape is composed of deserts, which are very hostile environments, at least in the context of supporting human habitation. However, to some extent, this ecosystem supports the traditional nomadic way of life for the kuchis, who make up one fifth of the population of the country.

Afghanistan is a traditional agrarian society, with rural Afghans and the only product which Afghanistan can offer and can work is agriculture. And almost 80% of people before were engaged in agriculture but ,have decreased by 50% due to war and drought in the county as if was mentioned above( Ministry of Agriculture data).

The greatest environmental damage has been imposed on agricultural land in the Kabul capital of Afghanistan . Although Afghanistan itself does not have enough industry to create considerable air pollution, smog and heavy concentrations of airborne particulates are common phenomenona in major cities such as Kabul. But the used of old cars and not having power and people are using coal for to warm or wood it creates a lot of damages in air and polluted the society in very bad manner, on the other hand drought made the land so dry and it also cases to have polluted weather.

Currently, only 6% of the 15% of land in Afghanistan is usable and, with increase of refugees and international organizations from 2001 so far it created huge problem throughout the country the a small house rent cost and cost increased so dramatically it starts from $200 to $50000 rents of houses you can’t believe that how some of the organziation greatest amount goes to the rent of houses for a simple ordinary house. Another problem increased during the refugees return the ownership of land and house has come under question then. Due to the nature of the topography and the arid climate, vast areas are subject to soil erosion.